1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, a data erasure managing method, and a computer program for performing the data erasure managing method.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been proposed an information processing apparatus which temporarily stores information (called data hereinafter) included in a job in an external storing apparatus (e.g., an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) or the like), processes the stored data, and erases the stored and processed data from the HDD when performance of the job is completed.
In the information processing apparatus like this, the data and position information which indicates a position of the relevant data on the HDD have been stored on the HDD. More specifically, the position information has been stored on, e.g., an FAT (File Allocation Table). In general, when the data is erased by the information processing apparatus, only the data on the FAT is erased in terms of speeding up of the process. Namely, the data remaining on the HDD is overwritten by other information and thus erased asynchronously with the erasure of the data on the FAT.
However, in such a state that the data still remains on the HDD, there is a fear that the remaining data is stolen by pulling out the HDD from the information processing apparatus, connecting the pulled-out HDD to a PC (personal computer) or the like, and interpreting the contents of the connected HDD by the PC.
In recent years, an information processing apparatus which has an overwriting erasure function for erasing not only data on an FAT but also other remaining data has been proposed in association with an increase in security consciousness. More specifically, after completion of a job process, the information processing apparatus having the overwriting erasure function like this overwrites already-used data with “0”, a random number, a fixed value or the like once or several times asynchronously with the completion of the job process, whereby it is ensured that data does not remain. For example, Japanese Patent No. 03715711 discloses an image processing apparatus which erases image data to which a copy process has been completed, as long as a request for stopping erasure is not input. Moreover, Japanese Patent No. 04386787 discloses a data processing apparatus which performs data erasure when an operation of the apparatus is started, when an instruction is input by a user, or when it is a predetermined time, and then displays a result of the erasure.
In the above information processing apparatus which automatically performs the data erasure asynchronously with the completion of the job process, it is impossible to know the completion of the data erasure for each job. Further, for example, in the data processing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 04386787, the data erasure can be performed only at fixed timing such as the start of the operation, the input of the user's instruction, the predetermined time or the like. Therefore, since the data not yet erased are accumulated in this case, a new job cannot be performed and/or a large-capacity HDD is required. As a result, a problem that an efficient operation of the apparatus cannot be performed occurs.